Jonathan Toews slid hard into his dressing room stall after skating around Jobing.com Arena on Friday, and you half expected someone to tell the Chicago Blackhawks captain to take it easy on himself.

Because the Coyotes evidently won't.

In his first game back from a 22-game absence, Toews was pinballed all over the ice by a Coyotes team geared up to test him physically at every possible interval. More than once, Toews skated around with helmet jostled, and every time he soldiered on.

"I expect the worst," Toews said. "But I mean, it's not to undershoot what happened (Thursday) night. Obviously I'm going to be at the net, I'm going to be there in front of the goalie every whistle. Every chance they get, they're going to take shots. I expected that. It's no big deal. I'm just happy with the way I dealt with it. (I'll) keep playing and not shy away from that sort of thing."

And the Coyotes will be happy to comply with providing more of "that sort of thing."